The eerie movement specially prepared for this dance of death still circled above the empty ballroom, but at this moment, a hint of indescribable madness and bloodiness was added to the magnificent score.
Jill's gaze was fixed firmly on that ominous balcony on the second floor.
The two wax figures of the King and Queen, which should have been inanimate objects, were melting and dripping rapidly as if scorched by a fierce fire.
Beneath the wax, what was revealed wasn't a cold wooden carving or metal skeleton, but a sickening, constantly squirming mass of living flesh!
Under the pull of an invisible force, the two bodies began to twist and fuse.
The "creak" of bones shattering and reorganizing was constant; two spines twisted together like a dough twist, eventually converging into a thick, deformed, and bloody single column.
Their melted, unrecognizable heads also slammed together violently.
The two golden crowns symbolizing royal power were forcibly squeezed into the reshaping skull, becoming the most bizarre adornment on this monster's body.
A giant serpent-like monster with two heads, looking as if it had been skinned alive, was born just like that.
Its newborn, mucus-covered, ugly body roughly coiled the three Regenerators and the remains in front of itself.
Then, the giant mouths on those two heads, which split almost to the ears, snapped open, revealing the abyss-like pitch-black esophagus inside.
"Gulp... Gulp..."
A scalp-tingling swallowing sound rang out.
It actually swallowed the four large Regenerators, along with their bones and flesh, alive into its belly!
Having done all this, it still seemed unsatisfied.
One of the heads suddenly snapped up, its cloudy eyeballs without pupils turning toward the deep shadows of the ceiling.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two more tentacles shot out like arrows from a bow, precisely striking the two Deformed Dancers who had luckily survived the stun grenade!
Before the two monsters could even let out a cry of grief, their bodies were pierced by the tentacles and then dragged down from the ceiling by an irresistible force, becoming another snack for this Two-Headed Serpent Monster.
With continuous devouring, its size expanded frantically at a speed visible to the naked eye!
The originally spacious ballroom instantly became cramped in front of its massive, bloated body.
Its enormous body occupied almost the entire center of the dance floor; that thick, python-like tail swept irritably across the floor, smashing the remaining tables, chairs, and wax figures to pieces.
The entire space was filled with a thick smell of blood and stench.
Jill's heart beat violently.
Yet there was no trace of panic on her face.
The more dangerous the situation, the calmer her mind became.
She quickly scanned the entire ballroom, which had been destroyed beyond recognition.
Those collapsed giant stone pillars and overturned long tables had become a field of ruins, but they also provided her with excellent cover.
The Two-Headed Serpent Monster's two heads simultaneously turned toward Jill, the only living thing in the ballroom.
From their split giant mouths came a hissing sound full of greed and tyranny.
The next second.
Its body suddenly lunged forward!
Its massive body, like a high-speed train, crushed toward Jill with unrivaled momentum!
The moment it launched the attack, Jill's body had already flickered toward the back of a collapsed stone pillar like a ghost!
"Boom—!!!"
A loud bang!
The monster's heavy impact directly smashed the giant stone pillar, which would have required several people to encircle, into pieces!
Countless rubble splattered in all directions like cannonballs!
Jill had already used the stone pillar as cover to circle to the other side.
Without any pause, her body nimbly wove and jumped through the messy ruins.
Every foothold was precisely positioned in the blind spot of the Two-Headed Serpent Monster's attack.
She was using her agile movements to constantly toy with that violent giant Troll that possessed nothing but brute force.
"Roar—!!!"
After missing several attacks in a row, the Two-Headed Serpent Monster fell into a complete frenzy!
It seemed to give up on chasing that tiny prey that was as incredibly agile as a flea.
It began to wreak havoc in the ballroom, destroying everything aimlessly and frantically!
Its massive body rampaged, crushing everything in its path.
That thick giant tail was like a siege hammer, slamming against the surrounding walls again and again!
"Boom!"
"Rumble!"
The hard walls were like paper in front of its terrifying power, easily smashed into one giant hole after another, revealing the rock behind.
Dust and rubble filled the entire space.
Jill hid behind a giant overturned metal long table, calmly observing everything.
Her brows were tightly furrowed.
This monster was using the stupidest yet most effective way to constantly compress the space she could use to maneuver.
If this continued, she would sooner or later be forced into a dead end with nowhere to go.
Just then!
"Boom—!!!"
Another loud bang, even more muffled than before!
The monster's giant tail slammed heavily once again onto a wall at the end of the ballroom!
This time, the wall was actually smashed through!
A pitch-black doorway, leading who knows where, appeared behind the flying dust!
An exit!
Without any hesitation, Jill lunged out from behind the cover!
At the same time, the ump9 submachine gun in her hand let out an angry roar!
"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!"
She poured the remaining half-magazine of bullets all at once into one of the Two-Headed Serpent Monster's heads!
Although the storm of bullets couldn't cause any substantial damage to its tough skin.
The huge impact and the sharp pain of bullets hitting its face still successfully drew all the monster's attention!
It let out an angry roar of pain, and both heads subconsciously looked toward the direction the bullets were coming from!
At this moment, Jill burst her speed to the limit!
Her whole being turned into a bolt of black lightning, tracing a death line full of power and beauty through the messy ruins!
Before the monster could react, she had already plunged into the dark passage it had smashed open with its own hands!
"Roar—!!!!"
Realizing it had been toyed with, the Two-Headed Serpent Monster let out a deafening roar of fury!
Its massive body suddenly turned and followed, slamming toward the doorway!
However.
The doorway was simply too small for its body, which had become extremely bloated from devouring too much.
"Thud—!!!"
A heavy, muffled impact!
The arrogant Two-Headed Serpent Monster was actually stuck firmly in the narrow doorway!
It struggled and roared frantically.
Its massive body squeezed the entire door frame, making it groan under the unbearable weight.
But no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't move forward or backward an inch... "Haha... Hahahahahaha!!"
Alfred's androgynous, sharp, and crazed laughter still echoed like a demonic voice from Hell, crashing back and forth in the empty valley.
"This laughter... it's really worse than nails scratching a blackboard."
Leon picked at his ear, a look of disgust on his face.
"It has... a lot of personal character." Ada smiled slightly.
Noah grinned and said nothing.
Claire just rolled her eyes, clearly having no interest in commenting on a madman's noise.
The four of them followed the slippery stone steps all the way up and soon arrived outside the ancient castle standing at the top of the cliff.
It seemed to have been abandoned for a long time.
Sections of broken walls loomed in the thick night mist.
On the walls and the steps leading to the castle gate, unknown weeds grew half a man high.
In those dark and damp corners of the walls, thick green moss was everywhere, and even clusters of strangely colored mushrooms were growing.
The cold night wind, carrying salty and fishy mist, made people feel waves of cold.
Pushing open the heavy oak castle gate, which had long since rotted.
A decaying breath mixed with dust and mildew puffed into their faces.
The light in the castle was extremely dim.
The entire space presented a depressing dark red tone, making one feel as if they had walked into the internal organs of a giant creature.
On the surrounding walls hung all sorts of strange masks.
The expressions on those masks—some were wailing in pain, some were laughing in a twisted way, and some were in a state of numb blankness.
Each was lifelike, yet exuded an indescribable evil air.
On both sides of the hall stood several large, ornately decorated glass display cabinets.
However, inside those spotlessly clean cabinets, there were no priceless antiques.
Instead, there were bizarre dolls that made one's skin crawl.
Some of those dolls were missing arms, some had their mouths sewn shut, and some had empty eye sockets with nothing inside.
"This Alfred... his taste is truly... unique," Leon couldn't help but complain as he looked at the eerie dolls.
The four of them crossed the hall and pushed open the only wooden door inside, which was wrapped in red leather.
Behind the door was a second-floor space similar to a reception room.
In the four corners of the room stood four sets of polished medieval knight armor.
On the walls hung shields engraved with the Ashford Family's Double-headed Eagle Crest and crossed knight lances.
Crossing this room, there was a semi-circular balcony extending outward.
Directly below the balcony was another even more grand and high-ceilinged hall of the castle.
And directly opposite the balcony stood a giant white female statue, almost as high as the ceiling.
The face of the statue bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to the "Queen," Alexia Ashford.
However, the stiff smile on the statue's face and its empty eyes exuded an indescribable eeriness in the dim light.
The second-floor balcony they stood on was just level with the head of the giant statue.
It seemed as if it had been specifically designed for people to admire the statue from a close distance.
Just then.
A very faint sound of someone speaking came vaguely from an inconspicuous small door on the side of the balcony.
The sound was intermittent and unclear.
But it could be distinguished as a conversation between a man and a woman.
Noah made a silencing gesture to the other three.
The four immediately lightened their steps, like four civet cats walking in the shadows, and quietly crept up to the side door.
Leon gently pressed his ear against the cold door panel.
After listening for a moment, he turned back to the others and mouthed silently: "Someone's inside."
Noah nodded and exchanged a look with Leon.
He gripped the cold brass door handle and extremely slowly and gently pushed the door open to a crack just wide enough for one person to observe.
Inside the door was a long, narrow corridor covered with a magnificent scarlet carpet.
On the walls of the corridor, several candles burned, emitting a dim yellow glow.
Diagonally across from the doorway was a giant floor-to-ceiling window with an arched dome.
Due to being neglected for a long time, a thick layer of dust had accumulated on the glass of that window, making it look somewhat blurred.
With the help of the weak candlelight, one could vaguely see.
A female figure in a white long dress was pacing back and forth anxiously in the room behind the window.